THE ELECTIONS OF 21 DECEMBER 2017 IN CATALONIA. SOME EMPIRICAL REGULARITIES

This article analyses some of the principal regularities around voter behaviour in the elections to the Catalan Parliament of 21 December 2017. These elections were exceptional due both to the reasons for calling them (the Spanish government's intervention in that of Catalonia, which was followed by the dissolving of the Catalan Parliament) and to some of the aspects of its workings (participation) and its results. To provide a structured analysis, the article employs a strategy that begins with aggregate data and then descends by unit of observation (including municipal-level results) to conclude with the analysis of individual data. Its main conclusion is that, despite the context, voter behaviour in Catalonia did not vary between the elections of 2015 and those of 2017 Nevertheless, the increase in participation had a significant impact upon the results. Lastly, it notes strong activation of cleavage by origin, leading to almost perfect alignment with regard to the type of candidates chosen by Catalonian voters.